Trump demands government shutdown after Elon Musk rants over stopgap funding bill

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have demanded that Republicans in the House and Senate effectively force the federal government to shut down rather than pass a stopgap funding bill that would have kept agencies running at current funding levels through the end of March 2025. In a statement posted to X by Vance, the incoming president and vice president groused that the bill doesn’t raise the nation’s statutory debt ceiling and accused legislators of “considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions for government censors and for Liz Cheney” – because the continuing resolution drafted by House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team would have kept the executive branch from using a loophole in the law to obtain phone and other communications records from members of Congress and aides who are supposed to be protected by congressional immunity. “President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government and they are threatening to do just that—while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centers.” “Triggering a damaging government shutdown would hurt families who are gathering to meet with their loved ones and endanger the basic services Americans from veterans to Social Security recipients rely on,” the press secretary continued. Republicans should keep their word.” The move by Trump and Vance against the stopgap funding bill comes less than three days before the government is set to run out of money.